Exclusive: Skin Authority’s Expert Tips on How to Get Better Skin in the New Year

Here to help us achieve a brighter, better-looking complexion in the New Year, is the CEO and Founder of Skin Authority, Celeste Hilling.

The esteemed beauty expert sat down exclusively with DIY Fashion to talk about the must-have products for 2013, and offered up tips on how to properly care for your face throughout the winter — she only suggests three products!

DIY Fashion: What’s the must-have skincare product for 2013?Celeste Hilling: An at-home, leave-on peel ... [it's] a simple, gentle way to resurface away all those dead skin cells. When you take off that dead skin, your skin can then really absorb all the product(s) you put on behind.

DIY: What’s your favorite exfoliator?CH: Skin Authority’s Resurfacing accelerator. It's a gentle non-abrasive way to exfoliate a couple of those top layers of dead skin cells, dissolving them like sugar in water. Many times people use an exfoliator with large granules. When you use those large rubbing particles and you physically ablate the skin, you can cause hyperpigmentation, or trauma to the surface of the skin.

DIY: What are your cold-weather skincare tips?CH: Most of the time, we’re using heat inside, and that heat tends to dehydrate the skin. So it’s important to use natural moisturizing ingredients … [like] mango and Shea butter, that are not only natural hydrators, but also calming agents to help reduce the inflammation that we sometimes have from wind or cold out in the street.

The other is to not take hot, hot or warm baths — those dehydrate the skin. And of course, alcohol. You always want to make sure you’re drinking a glass of water for every cocktail you have, so that you can stay hydrated. [Lastly], apply your sunscreen every day.

DIY: Why is it still important to wear SPF in the winter?CH: Because the UVA rays are more predominant when it’s cloudy. [SPF’s] important not only to anti-aging, but also to ensuring that we have less exposure to skin cancer-causing agents.

DIY: What’s one skincare product you can't live without?CH: A vitamin D topical serum. Vitamin D is not a vitamin — it’s a hormone. And it's so important — when you look at most skin conditions, they’re driven by hormonal influctuations, so hyperpigmentation, acne, the clarity of our skin, even the aging process through stress. So if you can take nature’s best and most potent hormone, which is vitamin D, and make that a fundamental building block of your skin’s immune health, you’re going to look amazing and dynamic.

DIY: What are the three must-have items you'd suggest for the gal who likes to keep it simple?CH: Buy multi-purpose products.

1. Cleanser that’s also antibacterial. You’ll not only keep your skin clean, but you also want to kill surface bacteria that might cause other issues like acne or breakouts.

2. Super C [serum]. Vitamin C has three jobs: At the right levels, [it] can be a co-factor in the production of collagen, which is firming up that skin texture. Also, vitamin C can help enhance the skin's ability to fight off some of the damage from that UV radiation that we get from the sun. And last but not least, it gives your skin a great tightening and glowing.

DIY: What’s your favorite skincare product to splurge on?CH: A wrinkle-reversing serum. It’s a cocktail of great matrix proteins that really are preventative in helping your skin get back to preforming the way it used to when it was younger. It’s like a filler in a jar. You just massage it into the areas where you have any types of wrinkles or folds and it just pops out instantly and gives you that immediate camera-ready, ready-to-take-on-the-day type of look.

DIY: What’s your best anti-aging skincare tip?CH: Have confidence in yourself. There is nothing more beautiful than a woman who believes in her assets and I think that is what shines through all the cosmetics that you have.